Quinoa Cakes With A Farmer's Market Riot - Recipe

On the way home from the farmer's market, Sarina and I joked that I wouldn't be able to resist playing with the molecular gastronomy toys, turning the zucchini into gel, the tomatoes into powder, spherifying the cukes and making the corn into a tableside sorbet with liquid nitrogen. But it was just a joke. With ingredients this good, and the weather this hot, it would be a crime to do much more than tie them all together with some big, bright flavors and a good beer.

So we have: quinoa cakes, spicy roasted corn relish, pan-fried zucchini, beefsteak tomato and cucumber salad, and a simple chimichurri sauce to marry them all up. The components are summer dynamite together, but any one of them could be a good side dish in a different meal, so feel feel free to mix and match.

By the way, can I mention that apparently almost no-one realizes how good zucchini is when pan-fried in a single layer? I like zucchini lots of ways - sauteed, lightly steamed, grated even... but when allowed a lot of surface area and a hot flame, it develops this completely different nutty / caramelized flavor that is addictive.

I hate to be cruel, but I have to tell you that for dessert we had strawberry shortcake, with two quarts of berries also from the market, fresh baked biscuits, and Sea Breeze Farm cream.

Quinoa Cakes with a Farmer's Market Riot
Serves 4
Vegetarian and gluten-free; vegan if you use an egg-replacer in the cakes

For the chimichurri (or see this other, slightly embellished version):

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped fine or pressed
  
• 1 cup well-rinsed flat-leaf parsley leaves, lightly packed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5 teaspoons sherry vinegar or lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a mini food processor and process until it forms a thin sauce, kind of like a pesto without the nuts or cheese to hold it together. You might need more oil to get it pureed. Taste and adjust seasonings and allow to rest so the flavor can develop.

For the quinoa cakes:

• 2 cups leftover quinoa, or 1 cup rinsed, cooked normally, and allowed to cool
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or leaves from a couple stems of fresh oregano, minced
• 2 eggs
• canola oil

Combine all ingredients except the oil. You should have a "dough" that you can form a wet ball with. If it is still dry and fluffy, add another egg. Bring your largest skillet, or better a flat griddle pan up to medium high heat. Add a thin layer of oil. Using about 1/4 cup each time, form pancakes and flatten on to the pan. They should only be about 1/4" thick. Cook on one side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and finish other side. Remove and season with salt and pepper.

For the cucumber and tomato salad:

• 1 medium cucumber, seeded and cut into medium dice
• 1 ripe beefsteak tomato, medium dice
• salt to taste

Combine all ingredients. You wanna put a little minced red onion in there, it is ok with me.

For the spicy corn relish:

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 teaspoons (or more, to your taste) red chili flakes
• 2 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed from stem
• 1 teaspoon salt
• zest of one lemon and 1 tablespoon of the juice

Heat a saute pan over a high flame. Add the oil, onion and chili flakes and cook about 1 minute, until the onion starts to color a little. Add the corn and salt and saute for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. Taste and adjust seasonings.

For the pan-fried zucchini:

• 4 small zucchini, cut into 1/4" thick slabs, patted dry
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• sea salt
• pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan over a high flame. Lay in the zucchini in a single layer and don't crowd the pan. (You can do a couple batches if necessary). Cook until quite a lot of brown spots are forming on the first side, then flip and do the same. Remove and season with sea salt and black pepper. You may wish to cut the slabs smaller at this point.

To serve:

In each bowl, spoon in a couple tablespoons of sauce or more. Top with two of the quinoa cakes, and nice piles of the zucchini, corn relish and salad. Garnish with a bit more of the sauce, or parsley or cilantro leaves.

Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice Rethought - Recipe

The traditional recipe for arroz verde involves cooking your rice with a puree of poblano peppers and herbs. It is truly delicious, and I'd choose it in a heartbeat over the typical red rice you find nearly universally at Mexican-American restaurants.

When I went to make it yesterday, I thought to myself "now why am I cooking all of these delicious fresh herbs?" Their flavor is so perfect when raw, why should I boil the for 20 minutes? So I took a new approach. I omitted the poblanos, and simply made a pesto-like puree of the herbs, garlic, and a little oil. After the plain rice was cooked, I stirred in the herbs right before serving.

The result was really satisfying, with a clean, bright, summery flavor. And as you can see, the green color is very appealing on the plate.

The recipe below calls for 2 cups of fresh herbs. My daughter and I raided the garden, and used a lot of flat-leaf parsley, oregano, and cilantro,and smaller amounts of chives, rosemary, mint and dill. You can vary it according to what you have available and what you are serving it with. Because the herbs are thoroughly pureed, you can use tenderish stems of parsley and cilantro as well as the leaves.

Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 4 as a side dish

• 1.5 cups medium grain white rice
• 2 cups edible parts of lightly packed fresh herbs (see note above)
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or according to package directions.
2. In a food processor, combine the herbs, garlic, and olive oil. Process until thoroughly pureed.
3. Just before serving, stir the herb mixture and salt into the rice. Taste and add more salt as needed.
4. Variation: you could also stir in a bit of lime or lemon juice.

Quinoa with Tahina Sauce, Tofu and Green Beans - High Protein, Tasty Hippie Food - Recipe

 

Glorious hippie food. No offense to any hippies out there! That's just what I call this kind of dish, when I throw together some components that don't really have any particular culinary heritage together, but they taste good in a healthy, satisfying way.

This dish is a prime example. Quinoa is from South America, tahina is from the Middle East, tofu is from Asia, and green beans are multi-culti. And yet somehow, they play together. I've always found quinoa to have an affinity for sesame. I'm not sure why, maybe it is because the flavors of both are mild and nutty, or because the quinoa grains are about the size of sesame seeds.

Bonus: Quinoa, tofu and sesame are all high protein, nutritionally dense foods. It might be just the power of suggestion, but I always feel good and strong after a meal like this.

If you haven't cooked quinoa before, I think you will really enjoy it as a change of pace from rice. There is one critical thing you must know: it needs to be rinsed a couple of times in cold water. The grain has a slightly bitter coating on it (saponins, if you must know). Some boxed quinoa might already have this removed, but I wouldn't count on it. Once you've done that, you can simply simmer it in a pot with a 2:1 ratio of water for about 15-18 minutes. You can also cook it in a rice cooker, again with a 2:1 ratio.

Tahina sauce is a classic combination of plain tahini with garlic and lemon juice. Once you see how easy it is to make, you'll want to use it as a dip for pita or vegetables or a condiment for falafel, roasted eggplant or just about any Middle Eastern dish.

Quinoa with Tahina Sauce, Tofu and Green Beans
Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free (at least, most people seem to agree quinoa is gluten-free)
Serves 4 as a main dish

• 1.5 cups uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup sesame tahini (Joyva or Alwadi are good brands; failing that, any Middle Eastern brand; if you use a health-food / natural foods type brand, look for one that specifies toasted, not raw. Raw tahini is yucky IMHO).
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
  
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed and washed
• salt to taste
• optional: paprika or sumac (the dried spice, not the poison ivy like thing) for garnish

1. Rinse the quinoa twice in cold water, draining in a fine-meshed strainer.
2. In a pot or rice cooker, combine the quinoa with 3 cups water. If using a pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15-18 minutes until the water is absorbed. If using a rice cooker, simply turn on for the regular white rice cycle.
3. If the tahini is separated in the jar, stir it up. Combine the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt in a mini-food processor or blender. Whiz on high speed until smooth. You will need to add some warm water to get it to sauce consistency, possibly quite a bit. Do not serve mortar paste! Taste and add more salt and lemon juice as needed. Hint: leave the sauce in the machine until serving time, as it has a tendency to thicken more. Give it one last spin and adjust at the last moment.
4. Steam the green beans until crisp-tender, either in the microwave or a steaming basket. Or saute them if you'd rather.
5. Saute the tofu cubes in the oil over high heat, flipping occasionally, until light browned. Drain on a paper towel and season with salt.
6. When the quinoa is done, fluff it and let it rest about 5 minutes with the cover off to get rid of any excess steam.
7. To serve, simply put 1 cup of quinoa on each plate, top with 1/4 of the tofu and 1/4 of the green beans and a healthy splash of the tahina. Garnish with the paprika or sumac for a little color and a hit of spice.